NEWARK, N.J. – A battle of Strikeforce veterans making their UFC debuts offered one of the oddest endings in recent memory as Ovince St. Preux earned a majority technical decision win over Gian Villante.

The light-heavyweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 159 event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It aired on FX following additional prelims on Facebook and ahead of the pay-per-view main card.

The two UFC newcomers opened the fight at a moderate pace with Villante pressing forward and looking to work in the clinch. St. Preux avoided an early takedown by wrapping his arm over the top of the cage, and it worked to his advantage. For the remainder of the frame, St. Preux was a little crisper in exchanges and seemed to frustrate Villante by pushing him away from clinch positions.

Villante staggered St. Preux to open the second frame, but the pace slowed as both seemed to struggle to adjust to performing in the octagon. Villante seemed the fresher fighter as St. Preux often let his hands drift down toward his waist. Still, Villante was slow to attack and failed to capitalize on the openings.

With St. Preux opening the third with power punches, he laced out a right hand with his fingers clearly pushing into Villante’s left eye. Referee Kevin Mulhall didn’t appear to see the poke as Villante dropped to his knees. The ref quickly asked the fighter, “Can you see?” When Villante said he could not, Mulhall instantly waved off the fight in what proved to be a very unpopular decision. Villante quickly protested to no avail.

With the fight ending in the final round on an unintentional foul, the bout went to the scorecards, and St. Preux was awarded the decision with off scores of 30-28, 30-29 and 29-29.

“I definitely felt comfortable in there and I knew I was winning,” St. Preux said. “I didn’t feel like I poked him. I got poked too.

“Stuff happens, but I don’t think they should’ve stopped the fight. I would’ve won the third round because I felt great and I was coming on stronger, but still it’s unfortunate it had to end like that.”

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